So I was talking to my friend Marshea (that’s her glowing in the header) the other day and she said something like “I know how you feel now”.
For a minute I was lost until she elaborated and said that she was at a party and she had gotten onto the topic of hair with a guy she knows. He brought up the fact that her hair was “different” (she’d had it in twists a few months back) and is currently rocking a puff/updo with her natural hair. So she explained how she liked the twists but likes her natural hair as it is right now because it’s more freeing. Long story short, he disagreed, seemingly disheartened by the fact that the twists (which he mistook for locs) were “so long” and now her hair is “super short”.
And so she’s fired up, ready to defend her natural hair, talking about how soft it is etc and so she says “feel it” (on her behalf, I ask you do not judge this act) and long story short, the guy was basically like “umm, well it feels like you’ve grown out a full bush of pubes”.
And then it all came flooding back to me.
My very own “pube story”.
Basically, in secondary school, some guy, in R.E I think, had likened my natural hair to “pubes”. My hair was in a puff and I believe I too had allowed him to touch my hair.
Where was Rickey Thompson’s outro on “Cantu” when I needed it??
I know other black people will have “hair-stories” of their own- e.g. Youtuber “OnlyOneJess” being told she looks like a clown and actress/singer Haley Law being told she looked like she’d been electrocuted the first time she wore her natural hair.
It helps to be able to laugh off stupid comments like these. People are dumb and ignorant (and rude).
I just wanted to use this blog post as a reminder to myself and to you to love your natural hair (yeah you’ve probably heard that a million times) but still!
Whether you’ve got a weave in right now (wait, my bad, a wig, it’s 2018), braids, a twist-out, whatever, the next time it’s just you, the mirror and your natural hair- not styled, no product, just chilling- I hope you can embrace what you see. (And if you can’t right now, don’t worry, it’s a journey).
Anyway, don’t forget to keep that hair moisturised on a daily basis (I should really take my own advice) and please feel free to share any similar experiences you’ve had in the comments below.
Until next time. ✌️
